


Really, Truly

by helsinkibaby



Series: Truly [2]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Het, One Night Stands, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 20:45:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16562846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: “So... the whole librarian thing didn’t work out for you.”Or, Nick and Ellie meet again.





	Really, Truly

**Author's Note:**

> For everyone who asked...

“So... the whole librarian thing didn’t work out for you?” 

Tim had bid his goodbyes a good half hour ago and Ellie had thought she was the only one left in the squad room. So when a new voice spoke, achingly familiar for all she’d only heard it for a few hours, her head snapped up, her cheeks heating as she looked over at Nick. He was standing beside the desk that had once been Tim’s, that would soon be his and Ellie couldn’t help but think how he looked like he belonged there. Then he moved a little and for just a moment, the dim light of the squad room reminded her of the dim light that night at the Hay Adams bar, and it wasn’t just the light that was having that effect. The teasing tone of Nick’s voice, the curve of his lips and the twinkle in his eyes as he looked at her... it was all too familiar, both from the night itself and the many times she’d relieved it in her dreams. 

Not that she was going to let him know that. “Too sedate,” she replied, leaning back in her chair as she closed the file she’d been working on. She didn’t think she was going to get much more done anyway. “What about you? Got tired of working miracles under the hood?” 

For a moment, she thought she might have overplayed her hand, using the exact same words he had that night. But he seemed to find it funny, chuckled lightly and shook his head. “Well, that’s more of a hobby,” he told her. She smiled too, but the impulse dimmed a little when he tilted his head, her whole face a question. “You never told Gibbs and McGee that we’d met?”

Ellie shook her head, just about managing to keep an expression of horror off her face. The idea of discussing anything to do with her romantic life with Gibbs was enough to bring her out in a cold sweat. Confessing to him that she’d once had a one night stand with anyone, let alone the possibly rogue agent they were trying to find? “It didn’t have anything to do with the case,” she explained. “Besides-” She hadn’t planned on continuing but the words came out anyway. “-I wasn’t even sure if you’d remember me.” 

The second the words left her lips, she wanted to take them back. At least her tone hadn’t sounded whiny. Just plain, simple fact, as befitting an NCIS agent. Go her. 

Still, she found it hard to look him in the eye so she busied herself with checking the file in front of her, making sure the pages were lined up just so. Only when a shadow fell over her desk did she realise that he was standing right beside her. “Yeah,” he said, his voice low and goosebumps broke out along her skin. That was not the voice she’d heard him use over the last couple of days. This voice was lower, more intimate. The one that she’d heard whispered against her skin as she’d moved underneath him in a bedroom in the Hay Adams. “Because a night like that is so easy to forget about.” 

His tone conveyed the exact opposite meaning and when she looked up to meet his gaze, what she saw there made her mouth go dry. It was hungry, no other word for it, an intense stare that made her shiver in place. 

Which was nothing compared to what happened when he continued, “I thought about Charlie a lot the last few months... I know it was just one night... but she seemed like a cool girl. The kind I’d like to get to know better.” 

All her life, Ellie had been the sensible one. The one who planned everything. Who weighed up scenarios and possibilities and considered them all before charting a course of action. So she knew that they absolutely could not do what she thought he was suggesting. Gibbs had invited him to be on the team. There was Rule Twelve and the awkward factor and the way they’d met in the first place. He’d just come back from eighteen months undercover, his family had been hurt, his brother in law killed, because of him. He’d been sleeping with a drug lord’s daughter, living a complete lie for all that time, and she knew the effects of that couldn’t just be swept aside at will. 

Ellie knew all that, opened her mouth to tell him so. 

What came out was, “Luis seemed like a pretty good guy too.” 

Much to her surprise, Nick’s smile faded, just a little. “Even so... Charlie’s probably way out of his league. Classy, you know?” 

He was giving her an out, she realised. A way to back down without either of them losing face. Without either of them having to feel awkward about it. 

The smart play would be to take it. 

“Maybe she’s not as buttoned up as she appears.” 

The words surprised even her; the way his eyes widened, the way he waggled his head as he looked her up and down told her that he was equally taken aback. Only for a second though. Then he smiled, slow and sure, sending a rush of heat through her body. “So what are we saying... we go for a drink? See what happens?” 

Last chance to back out, Ellie knew. 

She backed up her chair, stood in one smooth movement. “I’ll buy.”


End file.
